Gresley Rovers vs Overseal St Mathews
Gresley Rovers 2 - 4 Overseal St Matthews
Scorer: Gregory 2
Team: Ian Parker, Jack Moylan, Dave Hatfield (c), Rich Foster, Danny Gee, Josh Gregory, Luke Taylor, Sam Worth, Tom Fletcher, Chris Smith, Paul Morton
Subs: Matt Grice, Joe Tomlin, Joe Swift, Craig Harrison, Andy Lyons
Today's "home" game against Overseal was played on Gresley Park, thanks to Mark Evans, due to on going problems with The Old Hall.
We had most of the injured returning (except Mark Shorthouse and Stu Haywood who hopefully will be next week) so Martin and myself had some difficult decisions to make concerning team selection. Joe Tomlin was running late due to work commitments, so again we needed to alter things.
We still decided to put three at the back, choosing Moylan to pair up with Foster and Hatfield, this would hopefully strengthen midfield with the extra man and asked Fletcher to move onto the left instead of his favoured central role, a job I knew he'd more than cope with.
The game started, and again we were slow "out the blocks", and we were 1-0 down within 5 minutes so you could say we were "caught cold". However, we found our composure and started to play a little better and had a fair bit of
possession, but never really threatened Overseal too much. We had quite a few attacking chances, but these broke down from either poor finishing or lack of confidence in front of goal. Although we had a little more possession than
Overseal, when they broke forward they looked dangerous (far more so than us), and Parker was called into action far more than his counterpart. We weren't feeding our forwards any sort of quality passes, and when we lost
possession we never seemed too eager to win the ball back. With 5 minutes to half time we were given hope, when Gregory shot low into the bottom corner beating the outstretched keeper to draw us level.
Half time was a relief to be honest, although we'd got back in it, Gee had cleared off the line and Parker made numerous saves. So as said at half time "we could consider ourselves lucky" because we didn't really deserve to be
level, and much more was needed second half.
Second half got underway, and we started to put some presssure on Overseal, and we had several corners in quick succession. Smith took a great corner, and Foster rose to the header, and from the loose ball Gregory was at hand to make it 2-1.Ten minutes in we had took the lead and for the next ten minutes we continued to pressurise, but although we had chances, we never really looked like scoring. Overseal broke forward and drew level so it was
"game on" with the next goal being crucial.
With 25 minutes remaining we made our first substitution, replacing Smith for Swift, just to try new impetus up front. We then allowed Overseal to add another goal so again we were trailing. We then made our second
substitution, replacing Taylor for Grice and he'd barely settled in before Overseal added a fourth.
With 10 minutes remaining, we made our final substitution replacing Gee for Tomlin and threw "caution to the wind" pushing him up front to try to salvage something from the game (although credit to Overseal they deserved their lead).
So today we got nothing from the game, and I feel that Overseal deserved their win, they worked harder than us today. We had eleven good players out there, but Overseal had eleven working as a team. We are still a very young
side, and experience is lacking at times, however we've made great improvements this season we just need consistency now and I'm sure this will come. We made mistakes this week that we didn't last week, and when we play three at the back it can only work if the midfield track the oppositions runners. We never really got tight to our markers today and allowed Overseal the time and space to play, and we gave the ball away very cheap at times. As said though we continue to learn and develop and that's the main thing. If we had of won (with the other results) we would of moved into second in the league instead we still lie fifth. Let's look at last season though and we look a lot healthier this campaign, and we'll continue working on our weaknesses in training.
As said above credit to Overseal they thoroughly deserved the points today, it was a game in which the referee was excellent (K Jefferies) and Overseal were good sports. Also thanks to Nigel Worth for putting up the nets (and taking them down) also Shelly for carrying the kit back. Heads up lads there's a lot more to come we just need to believe it and want it!!!
Mom: Rich Foster, yet again Rich showed true class proving beyond doubt that he could easily play higher (although we're quite happy to keep him). The referee came back and asked who he was, and commented on his ability says it all I think!! Well done Rich keep it going mate.
